So you play Gran Turismo 5 and didn't pre-order with gamestop, but liked the look of the McLaren F-1 Stealth Model and the 2010 Joey Logano #20 GameStop Camry?

Well your in luck, I have an extra code that will net you both of them. As anyone who plays GT5 with me will let you know I'm always gifting cars to people on my PSN who play GT with me, but these are rare, can't get anywhere else pre-order exclusives.

Now I could be a prick and sell them for money on Ebay, but I figured what the hell, I'm sure someone here would make great use of these cars.

Now to the contest part of it, all you gotta do is tell me why you think I should give you the code, pretty simple. Just to make sure it's completely unbias, and that no one hates me afterwards (LOL) I'll be letting my girlfriend choose the winner. So get to telling me why you want The McLaren, and the GameStop Camry Nascar.

These codes are only good in North America, or with a North American PSN account. I will choose a winner by Wednesday morning and will message the code to their inbox here on Dtoid.

It was 1989 and my parents had just got me a NES for Christmas. As a 5 year old child I was understandably excited (not quite this excited). Mario / Duck Hunt came with the system, and the only stand alone game I got was Castlevania. My dad helped me hook it up, and after about 30 minutes of playing Mario / Duck Hunt, I finally got around to Castlevania, this is where it all started...

I was hooked, I even dare say the Castlevania trilogy on NES was the very reason I love games so much today. I literally would spend all of my free time whipping skeletons, hunchbacks, knights, and the undead. For me, Mario was for the weak, I was a young Castlevania fanboy.

As a relatively new writer, this is probably going to be the biggest review I've taken on to date. I'm going to do my best to go through every Castlevania game I can play, good or bad. I figured I'd start with the obvious, the NES trilogy. S
It was 1989 and my parents had just got me a NES for Christmas. As a 5 year old child I was understandably excited (not quite this excited). Mario / Duck Hunt came with the system, and the only stand alone game I got was Castlevania. My dad helped me hook it up, and after about 30 minutes of playing Mario / Duck Hunt, I finally got around to Castlevania, this is where it all started...

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I was hooked, I even dare say the Castlevania trilogy on NES was the very reason I love games so much today. I literally would spend all of my free time whipping skeletons, hunchbacks, knights, and the undead. For me, Mario was for the weak, I was a young Castlevania fanboy.

As a relatively new writer, this is probably going to be the biggest review I've taken on to date. I'm going to do my best to go through every Castlevania game I can play, good or bad. I figured I'd start with the obvious, the NES trilogy. So let's get at it. Let's take a look at the early 8-bit beginnings of the series that changed the way I look at games.

Castlevania

Developer: Konami

Released: 1987

Platform: NES (Nintendo Entertainment System)

This is where it all started, Castlevania. This is one of the pillars of strength for the NES, arguably one of the best platformers ever released. I do not know anyone that was a male born in the 80's, or even early 90's that did not like this game. It was so brutally hard, yet so fun you couldn't put it down.

You are Simon Belmont, Vampire Hunter. The game starts out with you walking up to the gate of Dracula's castle. Then one of the most memorable 8-bit tunes ever starts to chime in, and then it's time to start your quest in hunting down Dracula.

The graphics still hold their own against any 8-bit NES game, they simply looked fantastic for the time. The controls are a bit sluggish, and the way Simon "jumps backwards" when hit can be one of the most frustrating things to ever be included in a video game (this is in every game in the NES trilogy). After a while with the game though you can learn to use these to your advantage. For example, getting Simon hit at just the right time, in just the right place can get you "bumped up" to a platform that would normally make you fight your way through a horde of monsters to get to.

The game itself consists of 6 stages, each loaded with monsters galore, and a Boss to challenge your skill. On your way through the stages you will collect multiple different "special weapons" such as holy water, daggers, throwing axes, ect. You will also come across many hearts, but in Castlevania hearts do not = life. They are used for "ammo" for your special weapons. The more hearts you have, the better off you'll be.

If you're good enough, you will eventually make it to Dracula. Only to face one of the hardest 8-bit bosses to ever grace the NES. If your successful, Dracula's castle will crumble into the ground, and the day will be won!

9.5/10

Castlevania II: Simon's Quest

Developer: Konami

Released: 1988

Platform: NES (Nintendo Entertainment System)

As the second game in the series, Simon's Quest had the almost impossible task of trying to live up to the original. Konami pulled a complete 180 with this game (kind of like the Zelda series on NES) and changed the fundamentals of the game so it played like an RPG of sorts.

In Simon's Quest you have a central town that acts like a base. You can purchase upgrades and items here..... during daytime. That was another huge change that Konami added. The game periodically changes from day to night. During the day you have free roam of the city, and monsters seem docile and weak. At night the town is full of monsters and the shops are locked. Monsters also appear to usually take twice as many hits to kill.

It was a neat idea. The only thing that ruins it for me is the frequency of the changes, and how long it takes for the transition between day and night to take place. Having to read "What a horrible night to have a curse" or "The morning sun has vanquished the horrible night" over and over, without any way to skip just detracts from the over all experience. It even down right started frustrating the hell out of me at times.

The game has a fantastic musical score as far as 8-bit music goes. The night theme is still one of the most memorable NES songs for myself.

Konami also kept the way Simon controls from the first game. Which even though sluggish, it was definitely the right thing to do. I can't imagine playing Castlevania for NES any other way.

This was also one of those games that almost seemed like it required you to have a subscription to Nintendo Power to figure out. What I mean by that is there are certain times in the game where you have no idea what to do, and there are absolutely no hints (the books you find don't help, no matter what you say).

For instance there is a particular area where you come to a dead end, seeing as nothing is there you'd assume you went the wrong way, or you missed something. What you really need to do is select a "Red Crystal" from your inventory, kneel against the wall at the dead end for about 10 seconds, then a tornado comes and takes you to the next area of the game. How I figured this out as a child I don't remember, probably word of mouth, but there was absolutely nothing in the game that tells you to do this.

The game has its faults, but it doesn't really detract all that much from the game play. The first game was brutal, and this game is just ridiculously hard. I would say this game is still very enjoyable, but it definitely is not for everyone.

Me personally, I like it, just not as much as the first.

6/10

Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse

Developer: Konami

Released: 1990

Platform: NES (Nintendo Entertainment System)

This game features a different member of the Belmont clan, Trevor, as its main character. This game is a prequel, taking place before the other two NES games. Dracula is back as the main protagonist, terrorizing all of Europe this time. Konami also went back to the original Castlevania formula, ditching the central city, and RPG ways of Simon's Quest. This game is just a pure, unaltered Castlevania platformer, and it shows.

This game does add some "new" to the original concept though. Trevor has 3 "assist" characters that can help him out. Also the game dropped the linear path of the first game, and allowed the character to branch out at certain points letting the player chose their own path through the game. There are a total of 15 levels almost tripling the 6 from the original.

The difficulty in the game seems to be between the first, and second game. Not as easy as the first, but no where near the difficulty of the second. The controls stay true to Castlevania, but feel a tad less sluggish.

This is my personal favorite game in the original NES trilogy. If you get the chance, play this game. It's almost Halloween; games like this should be a staple in your Halloween gaming diet. There simply isn't anything as good for me platformer wise on the NES other the maybe Super Mario Bros. 3.

Throughout the game you'll find many power ups, including ones to make your whip more powerful. Every time you die though, you will lose these, so be careful!

If you haven't played this gem and you're over the age of 20, then I fear for whatever rock you've lived under your entire life. This game is an 8-bit master piece, and should be enjoyed by all.

Front Mission Evolved has always had a relatively small, but loyal following. In it's latest incarnation it ditches the turn based strategy of old, and goes for more of a 3rd person, action packed type of game play. Does it work in Front Mission's favor?

Very little of the old game remains, this is by all means a reboot to the series, and a well needed one. The game is now fast paced, and full of customization. The Mech's (called "Wanzers") have an assortment of pre-built units to choose from, but that's not where half of the fun is. You can fully tweak your own Wanzer to match whatever style of game play you enjoy. There are also seemingly endless possibilities to weapons. If you like Melee they have shields and sword type weapons. If you prefer ranged they have a huge assortment of ranged guns (assault, sniper, missile, ect....) and projectiles.

The missions themselves were fairly straight forward, and are heavily influenced by the politics of the in game world. The Wanzer's sometimes need to be customized to suit a specific mission. For instance, in one mission you have to boost (and be fast about it) to survive a collapsing environment. Obviously a slow, cumbersome mech like mine did not fair so well here, so I had to adapt and change. The controls for the Wanzer were also fantastic, I do not have a single complaint about them.

Where the single player game stumbled for me was when you get out of the Wanzer and play as the human inside. This game play was slow, and dreary. After making such a fast paced, enjoyable game, the human parts almost feel like they should have been left out of the final cut, or at least polished better. The controls were almost "janky" at times, they just felt very poor and inaccurate, I just didn't like the feeling of being out of the Wanzer. I found myself almost wanting to kiss my Wanzer when I finally got to get back inside.

The game also has four (very standard) multi-player modes. Death match, Team death match, supremacy and domination. My experience online has been limited, but everyone seems to want to play one of the two forms of death match. The waits were horrendous whenever I tried to get into a game as well. Things like this could get better in time when more people get online, but only time will tell. Overall, I was kind of disappointed by the multi-player, and probably won't be returning for quite some time.

The game itself is a fantastic reboot to the series. It will probably alienate some of the old fan base by changing its ways so much, but it's definitely worth a try. If you’re a fan of Mech games, this is definitely up there as one of my personal favorites in the last few years. You should give this a try if you get a chance.

I have always been a Street Fighter fan, just not in a competitive way. I have SF2 for SNES still sitting on my shelf, being proudly displayed with all my current gen games. I also own SFIV for both Xbox 360, and PS3.

I have to admit though, I've always been huge into Tekken (especially tag). I played it for years. I mastered it, I won local tournaments, there wasn't a single character I wasn't at least "good" with. I had even devoted probably upwards of $1500 dollars of my hard earned money (from a part time job), as a teenager at the local arcade playing people for money.

That's in the past, and I don't feel Tekken is what it used to be, and I have since been looking for a fighter to fill that void.

Last night I canceled my pre order for 3D Dot Game Heroes and decided to buy SSFIV. I got home, popped it in, hopped into arcade mode with Akuma (thank god I didn't have to spend 45 minutes unlocking him this time) and blew through Arcade mode on Medium.

Afterward I decided to do some "challenges" to make sure there wasn't to much new that I was missing, there wasn't (other then the Akuma ROFLcopter).

That's when I decided to take the plunge online. To my surprise it wasn't fighting Sagat time after time, there was actually a wide variety of people choosing new characters. I won some, I lost some, but I am hooked.

I'm currently sitting at work, and all I can think about is spending all night playing once I get off. I haven't been this excited about a game in years. I'm even debating buying a TE fighting stick.

Now I want to apologize for the poorly written, fanboy sounding blog, but I have not been this excited over a fighting game in years, I feel like a kid again.

I think I've finally filled that void, but only the next few month's will tell. I can see myself spending hundred's of hours battling it out online.